ItaSaku Fest 2K14
by Natarie
Summary: One-shot collection for the ItaSaku Fest event happening over on the itasaku tumblr. Day Five - Gratitude (Nov 27th): At the end of a very harrowing mission Sakura nearly faints after healing Itachi so he carries her home. Clearly Sakura needs to thank him, but no gesture seems quite enough... until the day she carries him home.
1. Day One: Meeting (Nov 23rd)

ITASAKU FEST 2K14

A/N: When the itasaku tumblr announced the ItaSaku Festival event I got really excited and immediately came up with ficlet ideas to meet all of the prompts. Unfortunately due to real life and my inability to write anything short (originally I told myself to stick to 3-5k words per one-shot but _hah_ as if that was ever going to happen), I had to scrap most of my ideas and stick to the ones which inspired/made me giggle the most.

I have two (including this one) completed and one in-progress which may-or-may-not be late. Fingers crossed I'll have three done for my first participation in this sort of fanfic writing challenge.

Warning: All of this is diabetes-inducing, toothache-inspiring, sugary nonsense fluff. In reading this, you agree that I will not be held responsible for your dentistry bills.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just an enduring obsession and fondness for shoujo manga romance novel tropes.

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><p>Day One: Meeting (Nov 23rd)<p>

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><p>Sakura met Sasuke's brother properly for the first time when she tripped over him sleeping beneath a tree just outside of Training Ground Five.<p>

She was running late to a training session with Tsunade-shishou and the first words out of her mouth when her knees hit the hard-packed dirt were "Bacterial endocarditis!" She then followed up with an irritated "Fuck!" as she tried to remember where she'd been in her mental recitation of heart diseases.

"'Bacterial endocarditis'?" inquired a smooth voice behind her and Sakura, already conditioned after only a few months training under Tsunade-shishou, replied with an immediate: "Fever, Roth spots, Janeway lesions, anemia, emboli—" before abruptly realizing the speaker _wasn't_ Tsunade-shishou and snapping her mouth shut.

She nearly had a heart attack when she turned around to see who was speaking. Of course she _knew_ who Uchiha Itachi was. There was no way she wouldn't recognize Sasuke-kun's aniki, especially when he was considered one of the best shinobi in the village. But other than seeing him in the background the few times she'd visited Sasuke-kun's house or seeing him in passing at the hospital when he came back from a non-ANBU and un-anonymous mission, she'd never met him face-to-face like this before.

"Haruno Sakura-san," he greeted, eyes flicking briefly to her most distinctive feature as she gaped at him, proving that he knew who _she_ was if only by the color of her hair.

"U-Uchiha-san," she stuttered in reply. And then, regaining some of her scattered wits, "I'm so, so sorry! I can't believe I just—tripped, like that."

"It's fine," he said, and got to his feet apparently undamaged from her stumbling over his outstretched legs. "If you're here for your training with Tsunade-sama it's time for me to go anyway."

He offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet easily when she hesitantly took it, untroubled by her paltry thirteen-year-old-girl bodyweight.

"You should work on your chakra sensing," he said, and it was impossible to tell if he meant the words sarcastically or as honest criticism from the tone of his voice.

"It was nice meeting you, Haruno-san."

She mumbled an appropriate reply, received a small nod in return, and watched the Uchiha Clan's prodigy walk away in a disbelieving daze until the distant sound of Tsunade-shishou bellowing her name woke her up, at which point she forgot the entire incident had ever happened.

* * *

><p>The next week she tripped in surprise when she saw him sleeping in the exact same place, but managed to catch herself against a tree just in time. Itachi didn't so much as twitch over her hastily-muffled squeak of alarm or the way she stared at him for a solid minute afterwards, hardly daring to breathe.<p>

She probably would have continued standing there staring if she hadn't recalled just then exactly _why_ she was early in the first place. Sakura winced, remembering the particularly vicious way her shishou had hurled those rocks, each unerringly aimed to cause the most pain if she didn't dodge them. If there was one thing Tsunade-shishou hated, it was people wasting her time.

With a small shudder, Sakura gave the sleeping man one last covert look before turning away. She regretted ever running into—in a manner of speaking—him again when she was too busy wondering why the heck Sasuke's brother was sleeping outside Training Ground Five to evade Tsunade-shishou's strikes, and ended up twice as sore as she usually was.

Training Ground Five had once been the preferred training ground for Earth-jutsu users in Konoha until Tsunade-shishou had assumed the position of Hokage. Since then the area had become known as "Hime's Playground" and was kept impeccably maintained by a team of overworked chuunin at Tsunade-shishou's beck and call.

While the ground hadn't been declared off-limits to others, it was pretty much impossible for anyone to navigate in-between Tsunade-shishou tearing it up and the chuunin putting it back together again, and most shinobi seemed unwilling to risk showing up to a training field that was either in a constant post-earthquake state or currently occupied by a rampaging Hokage.

So why Itachi had chosen what had to be the loudest, most seismographically-unstable training ground in Konoha for his naptime was a complete mystery to Sakura.

The problem was that Sakura was a curious person who liked mysteries, especially ones that weren't trying to kill her, or almost-kill her in the case of Tsunade-shishou's training. Being a nosy know-it-all she wanted to know the answer, and just couldn't let sleeping nin lie, as it were.

That second day she'd made sure to limp home the same way she'd come and was unsurprised but still a little disappointed to find the Uchiha gone. But he was back again three days later, and then a week after that and Sakura started looking for the pattern, trying to predict when she would and wouldn't see him, and accidentally earning extra points with Tsunade-shishou when she started always arriving early to training because he was never there after she'd finished.

In her very limited free time she began randomly popping up throughout the week at around the same time as her training in case Itachi had regularly-scheduled attacks of narcolepsy, but failed to uncover out his naptime routine. The obvious solution was just to ask him, but after several weeks of careful observation and verging on stalker-ish behavior this seemed like admitting defeat and, worse, admitting to Uchiha Itachi's face that she'd moved from obsessing over his little brother to obsessing over _him_.

So though it drove her a little crazy like the chafing of wearing in a new pair of gloves, Sakura tried to put the matter out of her head. "Tried" being the operative word.

Uchiha Itachi was sleeping outside Training Ground Five four of her training sessions in a row, and Sakura took particularly bad beatings each of those days as too many questions crowded her brain and made her slow. Something had to give. Either she needed to scare him away, an unlikely option considering he was _Uchiha Itachi_ and probably used weak little genin like her for ANBU target practice; or she needed a surefire way to know when he was going to be there and likely to distract her.

There was one answer to this problem, a hint he'd given her himself, whether he'd know it or not at the time: chakra sensing. She'd never particularly focused on that skill, expecting it to grow as she did as a shinobi, but now she had motivation and a useful training dummy.

Accordingly the first time she put her new plan into action Sakura stopped on the furthest extent of her range and strained, pressing out with her chakra and her senses in the vicinity of Uchiha Itachi's napzone. Finding nothing, she casually but purposefully strolled through his normal clearing and ran into a tree when she did a double take.

There was Itachi, asleep as usual beneath his regular tree. This time he began to stir at the noise and she hightailed it as quickly as possible so as not to be caught staring, face flaming red.

It took longer than it probably should have for Sakura to figure out what was going on, but then she _was_ a little distracted, and not just with wondering whether Sasuke-kun's brother was as crazy as everybody said he was.

Tsunade-shishou, who thankfully liked to mix up the routine instead of only beating Sakura to a black-and-blue pulp, sometimes ran through combat survival situations where Sakura had to achieve some set objective while avoiding booby-traps and her shishou's attacks. These training sessions, once more reviled than even boulder dodging, started to become mysteriously easier as the weeks continued.

One day Sakura's senses flared and she launched herself backwards seconds before Tsunade-shishou even threw a punch. Her sensei paused her attack and cocked one hand on her hip with a thoughtful frown.

"I see the problem now," she mused, "you've gotten better at chakra sensing. I guess it's time to step up the game. Good job, Sakura."

And though Sakura was staring straight at her, the innate sense of _where _Tsunade-shishou was, the same sense she'd been using unconsciously for weeks, went completely silent. Sakura gaped in astonishment before yelping and scrambling to avoid her shishou's not-quite-lethal attacks.

What she eventually realized was that Tsunade-shishou, a Hokage with a set routine any enemy intelligence worth their salt could discover and her own team of elite ANBU bodyguards following her around for precisely that reason, had never been particularly concerned with hiding her chakra signature.

Whereas Uchiha Itachi was concealing his chakra signature so as to remain hidden and un-molested by thirteen-year-old genin, hence why she could never get a read on him when he was catching a quick shut-eye. Since she'd never paid particular interest to him before this she had no idea what his chakra signature was like to begin with, and short of tripping over him again, there was no way to initiate the sort of extreme physical proximity or skin-to-skin contact that would give her a feel for his chakra.

Sakura, it seemed, was foiled.

On the one hand, this sort of inconsequential riddle would probably come back to haunt her at inopportune times considering her personality type. On the other, there was really nothing Sakura could do about it and she'd reaped unexpected benefits from her fascination with Itachi's sleeping habits. Unexpectedly scaring Kakashi-sensei out of a tree in a nearby training ground when using her newfound sensing capabilities was worth leaving the Case of the Sleeping Uchiha unsolved.

Sakura had another four months to grow accustomed to Itachi's frequent presence outside Training Ground Five, and then Tsunade-shishou changed her training schedule and Sakura had more important things to worry about.

* * *

><p>Breathless and running late, Sakura opened the door to the next patient's room while flipping over the blank top sheet on the medical report, tripped over something laying in the path of the door, and barreled into Uchiha Itachi half-way through taking his shirt off.<p>

Tsunade-shishou probably thought this was a _hysterical _way to inform her that her security clearance had been upgraded, Sakura thought darkly as she remembered the Hokage's smirk earlier that morning and assertion that Sakura was in for a "surprise." Under normal circumstances she _might_ have been excited at the rise of her seniority, but she was far less enthused after smashing into what felt like a solid brick wall and getting elbowed in the head by her teammate's aniki.

"I apologize," Itachi said when she'd recovered enough to push away from his chest and rub at her aching scalp. He finished shrugging out of his shirt and tossed it on the examination bench behind him.

"I thought I'd have more time."

"What?"

Sakura tore her eyes away from the flex of muscle revealed as he stripped and looked behind her to see that she'd apparently tripped on his sandals, inconveniently placed for maximum embarrassment on her part.

"Oh, that's ok," she said as he conscientiously picked them up, put them where she was unlikely to trip on them again, and hopped up onto the bench. "It's my fault for being late."

Itachi's eyebrow rose fractionally at her statement and Sakura followed his eyes to the clock on the wall behind her. Confused, she checked her watch, which was exactly twelve minutes fast. Slowly and knowing what she'd find, she undid the strap and turned her watch face over.

Someone, and it wasn't hard to guess who, had drawn a cute little henohenomoheji face, the leftmost no eye replaced with a straight dash and the he mouth drawn big enough to resemble a mask covering the lower face. Sakura felt her eyebrow give an involuntary tic, already plotting how to get Kakashi-sensei blamed for the theft of Tsunade-shishou's sake.

Someone coughed and Sakura gave a start, suddenly realizing that she'd been grinding her teeth as she stared unseeingly at Uchiha Itachi's bare chest.

"Well then, Uchiha-san," Sakura said with a little nervous laugh, "let's see what you're in for today."

With an air of forced casualness she turned back to the medical chart she still held, refusing to look at Itachi so he wouldn't see that she knew that he knew that she'd just been caught staring at his chest.

If she hadn't been so flustered over being late in the first place she probably would have recognized the blank top sheet as a sign of the anonymity necessary for the patient's status within the village, and not been as surprised when she literally ran into Uchiha Itachi, or embarrassed herself by acting like an airhead in front of him. The next time she saw Kakashi-sensei he was _so_ dead.

Upgraded security clearance or not, the brief medical history she'd been provided was heavily redacted. Sakura's eyebrows arched higher as she skimmed, mouth pursing when she finally came to his most recent condition. Recovering from two broken ribs, a fractured rib, a severely contused lung, and a small side of acute bronchitis.

She darted a look at the man sitting quietly on the examination bench who was staring at his bare feet on the crinkly paper-covered footrest. There were no mission details in the medical chart, but he could have received his injuries from a particularly violent bear hug for all the interest he showed.

"You don't have to take your shoes off, you know," Sakura said, and thought she saw him give an infinitesimal flinch, though it could've just been her imagination. "Most people don't."

"Whenever I keep my sandals on the paper gets ripped. It seems like it would be easier for whoever cleans up if it stays in one piece."

Sakura blinked, confused at him voicing such a thoughtful answer for such a mundane thing.

"I never thought of it like that."

Itachi made the standard "Hn" Uchiha Sound of Varied and Unspecified Meaning in his throat, and didn't say anything else. To cover the awkwardness, she went to the sink to wash her hands before taking the stethoscope from around her neck and rubbing the diaphragm between her hands to warm it.

"Have you felt any chest pains since your last visit? Any difficulty breathing or prolonged coughing fits?"

He answered in the negative and Sakura continued down her mental checklist, each question receiving a polite denial.

"Ok," she finally said after he affirmed that none of his sleeping positions caused him pain or affected his breathing.

"I'm going to listen to your lungs first to check for any remaining fluid, then I'm going to use my chakra to more fully examine the recovery of your lungs and ribs."

He sat up a little straighter when she placed the stethoscope against his skin and Sakura worried she hadn't warmed it sufficiently, but he followed her instructions on when to inhale and exhale without further complaint so she let it go.

It was only after she'd delivered his prognosis and Itachi was putting on his clothes to go that Sakura realized the huge opportunity she'd just been offered.

No shinobi could hide their distinct chakra signature from skin-to-skin contact. This had been her chance to get a feel for his chakra and she'd _missed _it.

"Thank you, Haruno-san," Itachi said from the door, unperturbed by the dumbstruck look on her face. "Next time I will be more careful."

Sakura's mouth formed appropriate, societally acceptable words, and Uchiha Itachi left.

Several minutes passed before his parting words finally registered in her mind. He'd said "next time" and that meant _she'd have another chance_. Maybe she wouldn't hide Tsunade-shishou's sake after all.

* * *

><p>Bone-tired and bleary with fatigue, Sakura stumbled on nothing and would have eaten dirt if warm hands hadn't appeared at that moment to catch her by the shoulders.<p>

"Sakura," someone said.

"Hm," she hummed. "Wha?"

"We really must stop meeting like this," Uchiha Itachi said, and put one hand around her back to support her.

If Sakura had been a little less tired she might have goggled at Sasuke's brother making what sounded like a joke. As it was she only mustered the effort to hum again.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?"

She paused to think about his question and some of her energy returned when she remembered her errand.

"Sasuke," she waved a hand in the vicinity of her head, "concussion. I tol' him to go—hospital but he left when I wasn't looking. He needs to go he—" she interrupted herself with a yawn- "passed out 's not good. Tried checking 'self but 'm so _tired_—needs to be checked."

"And there was no one else to come get him?"

"Jus' me," she squinted at what she thought was his face. "Naruto's watching Kaka-sensei so's doesn't leave after he's 'wake. 'M no good like this. I'd sleep 'n' poof!"

Sakura threw out both arms to mime her sensei's sudden vanishing and would have toppled over if Itachi hadn't been there to steady her.

"Sakura, do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Nah," she shook her head too hard and had to stop for a moment as everything spun around her. "'M jus' tired. No more chakra. Used last bit for—" she yawned again, this time so widely her jaw cracked twice— "tha' bastard."

Sakura frowned, slowly made a fist, and held it up with as much grave determination as she could currently muster.

"Gonna drag 'im back to the hospital. 'N' if he won't go I'll kill 'im."

"I don't think you'll have the chance," Itachi said with a quiet purposefulness she completely missed, and bent down to pick her up.

Sakura clutched blindly at his neck, confused by the entire world suddenly tilting on its axis.

"Sakura, where do you live? I'll take you home."

But she wasn't listening, having moved from groping at his shoulders to patting his chest. Finding it reassuringly solid and radiating a pleasant heat, she ducked her head and started nuzzling underneath his chin.

"'S nice. Usually I hurt m'self on you. This's better. 'M approve."

"You have made an unfortunate habit," Itachi agreed with a startled laugh, and the rumbling of his chest felt to Sakura like she was cuddling a large purring cat.

"Sakura, I need to know where you live to take you home."

"Hey," she said sleepily from the warm place she'd started drifting into, "'s something I've always wanted to ask you."

"Yes?"

"The sleeping thing," she signed, lulled by a strangely familiar rhythm pounding beneath her ear, "how come?"

Whatever answer Itachi gave to her unfinished question went unheard. Sakura had fallen asleep.

* * *

><p>Sakura awoke with no memory of how she'd come to be in her own bed. She remembered something about Sasuke and the hospital—a shift of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned her head to see her teammate sitting in a chair by her bed and frowning down at one of her medical textbooks.<p>

He straightened up when he noticed her looking at him, and nodded wordlessly at a glass of water on her bedside table before she could say anything.

"Sasuke," she asked after draining most of the glass, "what are you doing here?"

"Next time you're suffering from severe chakra exhaustion, don't pass out on my brother," he said without answering her question.

"I...what?"

Confused, Sakura took stock of herself. The last thing she remembered was being at the hospital watching the medics on shift finish up her healing job on Kakashi-sensei, Naruto telling her he'd stay to make sure their teacher didn't bolt the instant he woke up and she… she had gone to get Sasuke for some reason, what was it?

"Sasuke," she sat up with a yelp, "did you get your head checked out? Why aren't you at the hospital?"

"I'm fine, I _told_ you it was fine," he grumbled. "You checked me over yourself."

"I checked you while suffering from severe chakra exhaustion, meaning my judgment was impaired, and that's why I wanted you to get a second opinion!"

"I was going to have Kaa-san keep an eye on me, she's watched over Tou-san and Itachi enough to know the warning signs. I told you that."

"You mean when I was suffering from severe chakra exhaustion?" She shook her head in disbelief. "Sasuke, are you really getting on my case about trying to keep you healthy?"

She thought they'd gotten over this when Team Seven had reformed, but if he really thought she was doing this out of some misplaced desire to be clingy and overly involved in his life she'd set him straight right now.

"No," Sasuke sighed, "that's not what I—"

He glared down at the book in his lap and ran a hand through his hair in obvious discomfort. It was clear then that something was bothering him, and she was beginning to think his earlier petulance hadn't been about the concussion at all.

"Sakura, what did you _say_ to him?"

"To who?"

"Itachi."

"What does he—" but there was a niggling suspicion in the back of her mind.

She had a well-documented history of literally running into and then embarrassing herself in front of Uchiha Itachi, and the chances of her having run into him while loopy with chakra exhaustion were astronomically high.

"Sasuke," she groaned as a few choice memories came back to her. "I think I felt your brother up."

"_What_."

"Kami," she recoiled from the shock on his face, "not like that. I mean I pet his chest and told him he was comfortable and maybe… cuddled him a little.

"Sasuke," she wailed when his expression didn't change, "I couldn't help it! I was so tired and he was so _warm_ and he smelled kind of nice and-"

"Sakura," he looked pained, "just stop."

Groaning again, she pressed her cool hands to her overheated face and stared down at her comforter in abject mortification.

"So you just—" she could hear the grimace in his voice— "touched him and told him he was comfortable? That's it?"

"No, he asked me about what I was doing and I told him, but I don't remember what I said exactly." She paused to consider the sequence of events and immediately wished she hadn't when a few more memories cleared themselves up.

"I told him I was going to kill you if you wouldn't go to the hospital. I told _your brother_ I was going to _kill you_. Sasuke," she moaned into her hands, "he's going to kill _me!_"

"He's not," Sasuke said, and his strangely monotone voice made her look up from her hands in surprise. "He's going to kill me."

"What?"

"Do you know," Sasuke said to the dented corner of her textbook he was worrying with a fingernail, "the one thing my brother has in common with Kakashi?"

"They're both really powerful and have worked in ANBU?"

Her teammate looked up from the book long enough to roll his eyes at her.

"Aside from the obvious."

"They both like sleeping in weird places?"

"What?" Sasuke frowned at her for a moment in confusion before giving up on the futile guessing game. "No- neither of them can forgive someone who abandons their friends.

"You were weak and falling over on your own feet, but you still tried to find me and take me to the hospital because you thought I was hurt."

"You _were_ hurt—" Sakura tried to interrupt, but was silenced by a dark scowl.

"I left without making sure you knew I was ok and without making sure _you_ were ok. Itachi… wasn't happy with me." His brow furrowed. "Neither was Kaa-san."

"Oh." She mulled over what he'd just said and tried to make sense of it. "But that doesn't mean he's going to _kill_ you."

"He told me that since I'm still healing from my own injuries, he'd wait until I'd fully recovered before helping me train."

"What's the problem? That doesn't sound bad at all."

"With his ANBU team," Sasuke clarified. "He's going to train me with his ANBU team, Sakura.

"You've never trained with his team," Sasuke said when she only continued to look confused. "Itachi said he'd come up with a strategy to help me _improve my shortcomings._"

"Sasuke," she laughed, "don't tell me you're afraid of your brother."

"And you're not?"

"Well, yeah, but I think I'm jinxed to run into him all the time." Her teammate gave her a weird look, but she ignored him. "It'll be ok. When I go to thank him, because apparently I owe him one, I'll tell him to only mostly-kill you and to bring your body to the hospital so I can patch you up."

"Ha ha, Sakura." He paused and then said, "I'm sorry."

Sasuke snorted at the look on her face. "Is it really that surprising?"

"You apologize maybe as often as Kakashi-sensei's on time."

"Hn."

But he was smirking, so everything would probably be fine.

* * *

><p>As it happened, Sasuke's brother had just left on a long, indefinite mission, which gave Sasuke time to get over his apprehension and Sakura time to reconcile with having embarrassed herself in front of Uchiha Itachi <em>again<em>. It was almost blissful, knowing from Sasuke's unconcerned face at team training that his brother wasn't back yet and it was physically impossible for her to run into him. She'd even been _relieved_ when they were assigned a mission, thinking it would take that much longer to meet Itachi again, and that the burst of confidence from completing it would be good for herself and Sasuke both.

"Fucking Mist-nin," she growled, ostensibly to the Naruto clone standing behind her on the other side of Kakashi-sensei's prone body, "why is it always fucking Mist-nin? Are _all_ of their hunters in cahoots with their missing-nin?"

She paused to lob another handful of kunai at the attacking rogue-nin with a snarl.

"What are those idiots at the mission office even _doing?_ This is the _second time_ this has happened! With _Mist-nin! _And why does Kakashi-sensei always have either the best or the worst timing? He's had the Sharingan for practically ever! He should _know_ how to conserve his chakra by now! How he even made it to jounin—"

One of the missing-nin, faster than his compatriots but not as observant or as clever, ducked the rain of weaponry and moved in with a grin, clearly thinking everything would be easy once he got close enough to the weak-looking pink-haired girl. Sakura kicked him square in the chest and sent his body flying back into the oncoming rush of enemies.

"I know," she continued without missing a beat,"_I'm _going to be the one dragging his deadweight all the way back to Konoha. And the first thing this good-for-nothing sensei is going to do when he wakes up is slip out of bed and exhaust himself all over again reading his stupid _porn_. I've had enough! If he doesn't stay in bed this time so help me I'm going to—"

"Uh, Sakura-chan-" the clone tried to say, but Sakura wasn't finished.

If she had to act as decoy while Naruto kept the Mist-nin busy and Sasuke drove the remainder of the rogue shinobi force towards her, Sakura intended to get _all_ of her frustrations out in one go. Normally Naruto had a sixth sense for avoiding her when she needed to rant. Right now his clone was basically a captive audience and she meant to take full advantage.

"No, I'm so done this time, Naruto, I'm going to take every one of his silly little books and—"

And that was when she heard the telltale puff of smoke from a clone dissolving behind her. Sakura, conscious that no matter how much she complained about her no-good porn-reading sensei she didn't _actually _want him skewered while he was passed out and vulnerable, spun around and tripped over his unconscious deadweight body.

Of all the potential and most likely fatal results she anticipated from this blunder, Sakura didn't expect to slam into something solid and to feel an arm curl around her waist to hold her up. Automatically she grabbed the offending hand, ready to cut her way to freedom with a chakra scalpel if need be.

"Duck."

One word from a voice she vaguely recognized was all the warning she had before whoever it was shot fire at the approaching group of missing-nin.

In her team fire usually meant Sasuke, but since he was supposed to be herding the rest of the missing-nin in her direction either Kakashi-sensei had miraculously recovered or- Sakura let go of the hand she was clutching and took a step forward when the arm with the familiar-looking armguard obligingly released her.

It was Uchiha Itachi, _of course_, ANBU mask hanging loose around his neck as he used a steady stream of Katon to give them cover. He glanced at her briefly before nodding his head to the side.

"Go. I'll watch Kakashi-senpai."

Later, after she and Sasuke had crushed the rouge-nin between themselves and Itachi, Sakura watched Genma and Shisui seal the body of the Mist-nin into a scroll for transport and tried to rally her strength.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san," she said to Itachi as he stood supervising a group of Naruto's clones constructing a stretcher for Kakashi-sensei. "Not just for this but for the other time too. I really didn't mean- Anyway I'm sorry and thank you again."

"It was no problem, Sakura," he replied, apparently unbothered that she'd felt him up while half-unconscious. "Thank you for looking after Sasuke."

"_Aniki_," Sasuke groaned from where he'd been standing, Sakura suspected, close enough to intervene if necessary.

"I believe I still owe you help with your training, Sasuke," Itachi said in a way that shut her teammate right up before turning to look at her. Instantly, Sakura felt every muscle in her body go tense.

"And, Sakura, you should really work on your chakra sensing."

Itachi went to inspect the completed stretcher before she could reply, leaving her to gape at his back in disbelief.

So she'd gotten a little handsy while drunk on chakra exhaustion. _Maybe_ that was enough for him to upgrade their relationship from "Haruno-san" to "Sakura," even though _she_ was still politely calling him "Uchiha-san." But that didn't give him the right to chide her just like Sasuke, and how else could she label it when he'd given her the same criticism twice now?

Sakura fumed all the way home, mood a perfect match to Sasuke's grumpiness. Itachi, as the most senior shinobi present, took charge of their team and escorted them all the way through the village gates and to the hospital to make sure Kakashi-sensei was properly treated. Only after their sensei had been checked in did Itachi tell them goodbye, carefully tugging his uniform back into order in preparation for seeing the Hokage.

It was as he reached up to adjust the lay of his mask that Sakura noticed a ring of bruising at the base of his wrist and several evenly-spaced bruises inching up the side of his hand, bruises that perfectly matched the shape of her hand from when she'd gripped him earlier.

Properly chastised, she opened her mouth to apologize and found herself speaking to empty air as he disappeared.

* * *

><p>If Sakura were a better person and not a coward she would have made more of an effort to find Itachi and apologize to him. Instead, she was going out of her way to avoid him, a not insubstantial feat when she still didn't have a good sense of his chakra signature. Out of all of her embarrassing interactions with Sasuke's brother, this latest one had to be the worst.<p>

She'd _hurt_ him. Bruises that dark so soon after being made had to ache, though he'd acted as if they weren't even there. This wasn't like that first time when she'd tripped over his legs, though from the way Kakashi-sensei had complained of a mysteriously sore calf right after waking up she was beginning to rethink whether or not her thirteen-year-old weight was as paltry as she'd always believed.

She needed to deal with her mingled embarrassment and shame and apologize like a mature, responsible adult.

Sasuke, when she asked him about it, gave her a funny look and told her that as biological brothers he and Itachi shared very similar chakra signatures, and that if she wanted to know what Itachi's was like she should just look for one that felt similar to his.

This was not helpful advice for sensing someone who seemed determined to remain hidden twenty-four/seven. Sasuke claimed, on being further questioned, that Itachi was a really private person who spent most of his time on ANBU missions where he was supposed to be anonymous anyway, so suppressing his chakra was probably more habit than anything.

Again, Sakura found her teammate less than helpful, especially because his initial advice of looking for others with similar chakra signatures made her into an expert Uchiha-detector, a niche skill which was really only useful for locating Sasuke during team training sessions. The direct approach was always best, but she didn't think Uchiha Fugaku had ever stopped suspecting her of lusting after his second son, and Uchiha Mikoto, while nice, could be a little smothering.

There were only so many times Sakura could use the "really, I'm just waiting for Sasuke if he's not here I'll go find him, Kakashi-sensei changed the training time again you know how unreliable he is" line to excuse herself when Mikoto-san starting reaching for her wedding album and reminiscing about her younger days and how she'd always wanted a daughter to inherit all of her heirloom kimono every time Sakura "randomly" dropped by ostensibly to find Sasuke but really to see if Itachi was around and open to heartfelt apologies.

As per her usual luck, Itachi only appeared when she wasn't expecting him and her not expecting him guaranteed that the meeting resulted in maximum embarrassment and awkwardness on her part.

Sakura was on her way to Training Ground Five, long since adopted as her personal favorite training ground and not because she had an emotional attachment to a site of trauma, as Sasuke the smartass claimed, but because the overworked chuunin who were in charge of Konoha's training ground maintenance had politely requested she lessen the inconvenience her destruction caused others, and what better place to train than the one her shishou kept perpetually destroyed.

More specifically, her feet were on their way to Training Ground Five, the rest of her still back in the lab isolating components from a mysterious new poison for which an antidote was badly needed. Under normal circumstances Sakura could have walked there in her sleep, but this time she was unprepared for the dangling branch that hit her in the face, stumbling backwards and tripping over an exposed tree root with an undignified screech and flailing of her arms.

"Shit!" Sakura yelped as she went down. Knocking her head against something hard, she laid on the ground where she'd fallen, staring up at the trees as she tried to recover her breath.

Sadly, this was not the first time she'd been distracted enough to accidentally injure herself. Usually she gave her surroundings a searching glance for possible witnesses she'd need to kill, got up, brushed herself off, and told herself everyone had off days and she was still a badass kunoichi to make herself feel better.

She'd never hit her head so hard the entire world started _laughing_ at her before. Slowly Sakura turned her head to the left and saw nothing but sunny, untroubled forest. She looked to the right and saw Uchiha Itachi, head thrown back and laughing like it was going out of style. Hallucinating after hitting her head was probably a bad sign. She should maybe get that checked out.

The "exposed tree root" she'd tripped over shifted under her feet and Sakura realized it wasn't a tree root at all, it was Itachi's leg. This wasn't a hallucination it was real. She'd tripped on Uchiha Itachi sleeping outside Training Ground Five _again_.

He was still laughing, and Sakura might have been more astonished if she didn't feel as if her entire face was about to spontaneously combust.

With a grunt of effort she levered herself into a sitting position and pulled her legs away from his.

"You," she accused, all thoughts of apologizing for bruising his hand and his legs that once—twice now—completely gone, "why are you always sleeping here?"

"I'm sorry," Itachi chuckled, wiping his eyes with a hand. "It was impolite of me to laugh."

And then he smiled in a way that made Sakura blush for an entirely different reason. She'd never seen Itachi _smile_ before, not more than a slight upturn at the corners of his lips or the smirk he used to antagonize Sasuke. He'd been either polite or professional in all of their past dealings, aside from that one time she'd passed out on him, and then she'd been too busy snuggling into his chest to notice his face.

"As to why I sleep here, it's the best place in the village for an undisturbed nap."

"But," Sakura frowned, "this is where Tsunade-shishou trains. This is where _I_ train."

"Every shinobi in the village knows when the Hokage and her apprentice are training here and avoids the area. I always time my naps to end with your arrival."

Sakura stared at him, completely bewildered. "That's it?"

_This_ was the answer to the mystery of his sleeping outside Training Ground Five, a question that had plagued her for nearly a year and then continued to annoy her on-and-off at regular intervals? She'd always thought the answer would be something more profound than just "he wanted to sleep somewhere no one would think to look for him."

"I will admit to being curious about you."

"What?" She pointed at herself, as if there was anyone else to whom he could be referring.

"I've never met anyone as determined to throw herself into my arms as you are, Sakura."

Sakura gaped at him in shock.

"That's not—I don't do that on _purpose!_ You just, you always suppress your chakra signature," she stuttered, "and I don't know what it's like in the first place."

"If I recall, you've had several opportunities to remedy this."

"I wasn't paying attention," she protested. "That one time I was nearly dead on my feet and the other, well it's not like I go on rounds anticipating getting my hands on the patients."

She blushed at his raised eyebrow, staring at the tree trunk to the right of his head instead of meeting his eyes.

"You could have asked," he pointed out, "since we seem to have a habit of… running into each other in interesting ways."

"Yeah," Sakura said, still refusing to look at him, "that's not weird or anything."

"There is a simple solution to this problem."

Without further explanation, Itachi shifted much further into her personal space than she was mentally prepared for, took one of her hands between both of his, pressed it to the skin between his collarbones, and flared his chakra.

Sasuke couldn't judge her if his brother initiated the feeling up, Sakura thought dazedly. His skin was very warm and he really _did_ smell nice, a little like fresh wood smoke and the mineral oil all shinobi used to sharpen their weapons. She stared at large hands where they overlapped her smaller one, tucked against the pale skin at the base of his throat.

Itachi flared his chakra again, likely because he knew she wasn't paying attention, and Sakura felt a shiver work its way straight down her spine at the sudden pressure in the air.

"Can you feel it now, Sakura?"

His eyes were very dark. Numbly, she nodded her head, a flustered automatic response.

"Yeah," she said, very close to a sigh. "I won't forget."

"Good," Itachi said and released her, the sense of his chakra receding until nothing remained but a bright compacted spark flickering steadily before her.

"Then it's time for me to be going. I won't interrupt your training any longer."

He got to his feet in one smooth motion and offered her a hand, so similar to their very first meeting. This time Sakura didn't hesitate to accept his offer, though she was surprised when Itachi leaned forward after she was standing to pluck a leaf from her hair.

"I'm sure we'll see each other again," he smiled softly, twirling the leaf between his fingers. "Until next time, Sakura."

She watched the leaf flutter to the ground in his wake, his chakra fading into the distance until it was beyond her range and she couldn't sense it anymore. Then she made her way to Training Ground Five to begin her warm-up stretches.

It was odd, almost anticlimactic, to have finally discovered the reason behind Uchiha Itachi's strange napping habits. He'd made irrevocably sure that she knew what his chakra signature felt like, which meant he'd totally eliminated any chance of her running into him the way she had in the past. While she should have been happy at the prospect of avoiding future embarrassing encounters, Sakura felt strangely disappointed.

She'd finished three kata and busted up a portion of the ground for some terrain-evasion training when the full meaning of her interaction with Itachi occurred to her.

He'd been teasing her, and unless she'd learned nothing after years of being subjected to Ino's advice about boys, _flirting_ with her, at least a little. Absent-mindedly, Sakura punched her way straight through a boulder, a smile slowly forming on her face.

Itachi had outright admitted that he would be outside Training Ground Five right before her training, and he'd said they'd see each other again. Only next time Sakura had no intention of tripping over his legs.


	2. Day Four: Alternate Universe (Nov 26th)

A/N: Well I tried my hardest, but I just ran out of time and couldn't finish this one, so this is only a snippet of the original story. And as I was in transit all day yesterday and couldn't upload it, today will be a double-update.

I'd like to finish this, but everything is due for me in the next 2.5 weeks, so this is simply not my priority right now. When winter break comes around I'll see about finishing it up and replacing this chapter with the full version (which looks like it's going to be really long why did I pick this AU…).

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><p>Day Four: Alternate Universe (Nov 26th)<p>

* * *

><p>One rainy Thursday in early August found Sakura contemplating her haul after a back-to-school shopping trip with Ino. She had one very blah navy "memo" notebook for passing notes in class, several solid-colored single-subject notebooks for actual note taking, assorted other supplies and writing utensils, including the most amazing sixteen-color pen she was going to use for mad doodling, and the prize of the lot: a Lisa Frank notebook. She'd chosen the rainbow ballerina bunnies, while Ino had opted for the rainbow tigers.<p>

Color-coding her notebooks by subject had always been a time-honored school tradition for Sakura, but this Lisa Frank notebook changed everything. She needed to think long and hard about what subject would have the honor of being represented by psychedelic anthropomorphic bunnies.

She was still deep in thought when her phone went off.

"Hey, Sasuke," she greeted after an absent look at the name on the screen, "you usually text instead of calling, what's up?"

"My brother got his placement for student teaching," said without preamble or explanation.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, confused at the apparent non sequitur. "Ok?"

"He's going to be at your school."

Her eyebrow arched higher. Definitely relevant to her interests then, but there was one obvious problem with Sasuke's hot older brother teaching at her school, and it was hard to tell from the tone of his voice if Sasuke had realized it or not yet.

"Sasuke, I go to an all-girls' school."

"Aa."

Sakura rolled her eyes. God forbid Sasuke pull some verbal weight in the conversation for once.

"Ok, remind me again, what subject is he teaching?"

"Biology."

And _there_ was the slight tremor in his voice that betrayed his uncertainty. Sakura shook her head in pained understanding even though he couldn't see it over the phone.

"Your brother's going to get eaten alive."

"…Hn."

Sakura wrote "BIOLOGY" in pink highlighter on the inside cover of her Lisa Frank notebook.

* * *

><p>"And finally," Principal Senju said, and Sakura smirked in anticipation of the moment she'd been waiting for since Sasuke called her weeks ago, "let's welcome our new student teachers—" she gestured and Itachi stood up from where he'd been mostly hidden behind Mr. Hoshigaki.<p>

Sakura could see the ripple effect as heads turned in his direction. Everything else the principal said was drowned out by the sound in Sakura's head of a six-inch steel door closing shut on the nuclear holocaust.

"You _bitch_," Ino hissed sounding delighted and scandalized at the same time, "you knew this was going to happen and you didn't tell me, there's no way you didn't know Sasuke's brother was going to be here!"

On her other side Tenten made a low whistle and started fanning herself. "_That's_ Sasuke's brother? Well _hellooooo,_ nurse!"

Hinata squeaked and shook her head. "He looks a little too much like Neji."

"Yeah," Ino agreed, "and your brother is _banging_."

"_As I was saying_," the principal growled into the microphone, and the four of them shut up as teachers started scanning the bleachers for troublemakers, "they'll be with us for the rest of the semester, so let's all help them have a great teaching experience."

Three rows down Sakura heard a girl mutter: "_I'll _show him a great experience" to snickers from her friends. Ino looked positively gleeful over all the new gossip she was about to collect.

Sakura pulled out her phone and sent off a group message.

"Bets on how long Sasuke's brother will last?"

Since eight-thirty to nine-thirty a.m. was universally assembly time on the first day of school the responses were nigh instantaneous.

"i give him 1 day," Kiba responded, "be4 some gurlz corner him n get him xpelled"

"PuhLEASE," Ino scoffed mid-typing, "he can't get expelled, he's not even a student here! No, I give him four weeks before admin has to ask him to leave over all the scandalous rumors about him having an affair with a student."

"Seconded," Tenten wrote, "but after 2 weeks."

"u GAIS dONT say tHat STUFF about TEME'S BROther"

"C'mon, Naruto," Ino sent, "you know what it's like around here when we've got fresh meat."

"We're not ALL like that," Hinata was quick to add.

"GURLZ R MONSTERS," was Naruto's instant reply. "eXCept 4 U HInata n sakurA"

"One week," Neji sent in, "before he requests a transfer."

"Neji!" Hinata reached behind Sakura to smack Ino on the arm when the blonde laughed at her brother's text.

"Hinata, you give everyone too much credit."

"Yosh!" Lee actually included a fist emoticon to show his enthusiasm.

"I Hate To Be Doubtful Of Sasuke's Brother But The Last Time Sasuke Was At Your School I Heard He Left After Five Minutes So I Don't Think His Brother Will Stay For Longer Than Five Days And Must Concur With Neji."

"He will only stay for half the semester. Why? Because the stress of mid-terms will be too much for him to handle in that environment."

"If he knows what's good for him he'll get out of there as soon as possible," Shikamaru wrote. "2 weeks and 3 days."

"i thINK HE WILl stAy leAST 2 MONTHS be4 U gais DRIVE HIM INSANE"

"A month and a half, but it won't be his fault," Hinata added virtuously, "he can't help how he looks."

"I notice," Ino elbowed Sakura as she was typing, "that two people haven't said anything. Sakura? Precious younger brother?"

"Itachi will be fine."

"So you're betting on the whole semester then?"

Nearly a minute passed as they all watched their phones for Sasuke's reply.

"Itachi won't stay longer than a month if he feels he isn't getting anything from the experience."

Sakura rolled her eyes when her friends all turned to stare at her.

"It all depends on if Mr. Ibiki likes him or not," she wrote. "If he does Itachi'll make it the whole semester. If not I give him three weeks."

"Terms? $20 Each?"

There were ten "agreed"'s on her screen and one thumbs-up emoticon. Sakura glanced down at where Sasuke's brother was just visible behind Mr. Hoshigaki and grinned.

* * *

><p>"As we all know," Mr. Ibiki growled at the end of his customary start-of-the-year speech about not cheating and properly formatting lab reports, "I have a student teacher this semester. Mr. Uchiha will be assisting in class until I decide to turn you loose on him at the end of the semester."<p>

He smiled in a way that said "that was a joke" on most people's faces, but "laugh and I'll demote you back to seventh grade" on his.

"Don't break him. Unlike the beakers I can't order in a replacement." He muttered something under his breath that sounded ominously like "not after the last one."

Sasuke's brother, standing awkwardly to the side of the big desk up front, shifted on his feet and side-eyed Mr. Ibiki.

"Right, any questions before we begin?"

Instantly half the room's hands were in the air, including Ino's.

"Let me rephrase," Mr. Ibiki frowned. "Are there any questions that _aren't_ about Mr. Uchiha's personal life?"

All the hands went back down. Itachi shifted again, looking very much like he wanted to go stand somewhere less visible. Seeing this, Mr. Ibiki grunted and jerked his head towards the back of class. Itachi hit the lights on his way, clearly already used to this treatment after barely a day. In the dark moments before Mr. Ibiki got the projector working Sakura heard a loud thud and a scuff as if someone had "accidentally" tripped him.

Winning the bet wasn't going to be easy if the hazing was already this bad, but Sakura just might be up for the challenge.

* * *

><p>She got her chance a few days later when Mr. Ibiki was looking around the room for sacrificial victims aka willing volunteers to help clean up after the lab prep work. Normally, selfish bitches as they all were, it was every-girl-for-herself as each person cleaned up her station and ran out of class before Mr. Ibiki could pin them with extra clean-up work.<p>

But Sasuke's hot college-age brother was a powerful draw and this time there were several girls in class noticeably dawdling as they collected their books and pretended they weren't angling to get picked to stay behind and help the new student teacher, who everyone already knew Mr. Ibiki was pinning with all the grunt work.

Mr. Ibiki took one look at the fluttering lashes and almost-visible cloud of pheromones hovering in the middle of his classroom and pinned Sakura, who had one foot out the door and was looking back into the classroom in a cursory sweep for remaining possessions, with a glare.

"Haruno."

Sakura froze and slowly turned her head to meet her teacher's eyes, trying to ignore the other pairs of eyes suddenly staring at her with laser-targeted focus.

"Sir?"

"Stay and help Mr. Uchiha with the clean-up."

Sakura, not looking away from his face, could literally _feel_ the other girls sharpening mental daggers and pointing them at her. She swallowed, a shiver of dread racing down her spine.

"Yes, sir."

"Right," Mr. Ibiki said and waved at the remaining girls. "The rest of you out."

Sakura hastily scooted out of the doorway and the immediate line of fire, back tense until Mr. Ibiki had followed the other girls out muttering something that sounded like "god damned hormones I never should've left the army," and closed the door.

There was a pause as she locked eyes with Itachi from across the room.

"Sakura," he greeted cautiously after a long moment.

"Yeah," she said, "hi."

They'd nodded to each other in the hallways in passing, but hadn't spoken before this. No doubt Itachi wanted to avoid accusations of favoritism before he'd even started teaching, and Sakura had too much self-preservation to put herself out like that.

"It's nice to see you again," he continued as she put her books down on an empty desk. "I hadn't realized you'd be in this class."

"The Junior year science class is Biology," Sakura explained, reaching for the broom. "I guess Sasuke didn't mention that."

"No, but I've heard… interesting things from him about your school."

Sakura scoffed, unable to help herself.

"So he didn't tell you how much trouble you're in?"

Itachi conveyed his disbelief with a single raised eyebrow. Sakura sighed and shook her head, wondering if she shouldn't give up on that twenty dollars as a lost cause and save herself the trouble.

"You haven't been here in the winter when everybody competes over who can go the longest without shaving their legs." Itachi stopped brushing the remaining potting soil from the tops of the lab tables and counters onto the floor and turned to look at her.

"Mm-hm," she replied to the unasked question, "Kin Tsuchi beat the record last year: four months, twenty-one days, although some people questioned her conviction when it turned out she was wearing over-the-knee socks under her skirts when she went on dates."

Itachi looked surprised and a little worried, if she was reading his expression right. Resisting the urge to smirk, Sakura directed her next words at her broom as she continued sweeping.

"Yeah, everybody thinks private all-girls' schools are like modern-day nunneries, but that's not true. You," she swept past Itachi's still form, "are in girl world now."

For a few minutes her sweeping provided the only noise in the empty classroom as Itachi stared in thought at the neat row of pots lined up under the heating lamps. Finally he stirred, walking over to the dust tray she'd set on the ground and bending over to hold it still for her.

"Well, I knew this would be a difficult semester even before I was placed, but a challenging placement only guarantees me more opportunities to learn."

He quirked a small wry smile up at her from where he crouched on the ground, completely trusting both in his placement at her crazy school and that she wasn't about to sweep dirt into his face.

Sakura couldn't help thinking of Sasuke's assertion that his brother wouldn't stay if he didn't believe the experience rewarding enough and wondered how much of that had simply been him projecting. She didn't know very much about Itachi, having always been too young and a little too interested in his younger brother to ever get close to him, but he _seemed_ genuine.

As Itachi carried the full dust tray over to a nearby trashcan Sakura leaned on her broom and debated her options. She could wash her hands clean of this right now if she wanted and let the fates decide whether Itachi survived student teaching in a school of rabid teenaged girls. Or she could meddle and treat herself to a generous Christmas gift when the winter semester ended.

Oh, who was she kidding, she'd known she wanted to meddle since she'd seen him stand up from behind Mr. Hoshigaki at the start-of-the-year assembly and everybody stared at him like he was the last chocolate-frosted donut in the box. Ino was right: she had a total fixer complex.

"You," Sakura called, waiting until Itachi turned to look at her, "are going to need all the help you can get."


	3. Day Five: Gratitude (Nov 27th)

A/N: For those of you in the US, please enjoy the double-update as a Thanksgiving present! For everyone else, I hope you enjoy it as well.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first one-shot! I had fun doing these even if (as usual) my ambitions exceeded my time management skills.

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><p>Day Five: Gratitude (Nov 27th)<p>

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><p>"I can't even believe this," Sakura pressed her hands to her face and sighed in deep aggravation.<p>

"Yes, I think you've mentioned that."

"This is just so stupid."

She could feel his hum of agreement vibrate through his chest.

"I mean, not even a piggyback, a _princess carry! _That's so embarrassing!"

"I'd trade you," Genma called from where he was draped over Shisui's back, "but I don't trust Taichou not to drop me. He likes you better."

"I guess you're right. After all, I'm not sure I trust Shisui to keep his hands to himself."

"That you could think such a thing wounds me deeply," the other Uchiha pouted. "I'm hurt."

Sakura snorted under her breath and continued in a louder voice. "I still don't see why I couldn't have just taken a soldier pill and carried _myself_."

"Because when you eventually crashed there would be no one to catch you. This way if you feel faint again I won't need to worry about you falling off my back."

"The medic shouldn't be the one being carried home."

"Consider it me returning a favor," she could hear the amusement in his voice, "since you used the last of your chakra to heal me."

Sakura sighed again, but subsided with bad grace. She needed to preserve her strength if she wanted to convince Itachi to at least let her walk through the village on her own two feet.

Is what she told herself all the way home, but the instant she voiced this idea aloud the hardass ANBU Captain vetoed her with a flat "No" and insisted on carrying her to the hospital against her vehement protests that she was _fine_ and could _walk herself, damn it!_

Shizune's reaction was to raise an eyebrow and smirk. "Enjoying yourself?" The insinuating tone was hard to miss.

"Not as much as you'd be enjoying yourself if Taichou had been carrying _me_ instead," Genma chortled, making Shizune laugh and distracting Sakura from her desire to put cayenne pepper in the older woman's coffee as payback.

"Well," she said as she watched Shisui become increasingly uncomfortable with his position stuck between the two flirting shinobi, "this was fun and all, but you can really put me down now."

"Not yet," Itachi denied easily. "Shizune-san, could you please look over Sakura?"

"It's just chakra exhaustion," Sakura insisted. "_You're_ the one who was injured!"

"Honestly," Shizune sighed, "medics always make the worst patients. Alright, go sit down and I'll examine both of you."

"Sakura is the one who most needs to be examined. She already examined me in the field."

Sakura, freshly freed from the cage of Uchiha Itachi's arms, latched onto his wrist when he took a step towards his teammates.

"Oh no you don't. If I have to sit through a superfluous medical examination then you're coming too."

"I wasn't trying to escape," he said in an infuriatingly reasonable way, "only making an observation."

"Shoo," Shizune flapped one hand at them as she waved Shisui and Genma away, having already given them quick check-ups. "Go sit down so we can get this over with."

Which was how Sakura found herself sharing an examination bench with Uchiha Itachi as Shizune looked them over.

"It's standard chakra exhaustion," she announced when she'd finished with Sakura. "Get plenty of rest and fluids for the next few days, don't push yourself, and lay off the fatty food." Turning to Itachi she said, "No strenuous activity that might re-open the wound, but you'll be fine with light exercise by the end of the week.

"And since you were so dutiful in bringing Sakura here," there was a sudden calculating glint in her eyes that Sakura really didn't like, "can I trust you to see her home safely?"

"Now wait a minute-" Sakura tried to say, but was interrupted by Itachi continuing to be calmly and infuriatingly reasonable.

"Of course, Shizune-san. I will do so right away."

Shizune's shrewd expression immediately melted into a smile and she beamed at Sakura as if she'd done her a favor instead of damning her to another few minutes with the fussy overprotective Captain.

"I can get home on my own," Sakura frowned.

"Medic's orders." Shizune's smile got a little too wide and she started flicking her eyes towards Itachi in a way Sakura really didn't understand.

"As Shizune-san had given you a clean bill of health I think a piggyback would be appropriate since you disliked the other carry so much."

With perfect composure he slipped from the bench and kneeled on the floor in front of her, presenting his back for her to get on. Sakura's first reaction was to reject the offer, but the moment she opened her mouth Shizune started glaring at her, mouth still stretched in the semblance of a smile. Sakura was so freaked out by the expression on the other woman's face that she decided to just do what Itachi wanted and save her complaints for later.

To his benefit he was quick and didn't bounce her unnecessarily, setting her down just in front of her apartment door with a minimum of jostling.

"Not going to tuck me into bed?" she asked sarcastically.

"I can if you give me your key," he said, and with his mask removed it was obvious that he was completely serious.

She gaped at him for a few seconds before recovering herself. "Actually, no, that's alright, I'm totally good—fine, I'm totally fine. You really didn't have to do any of," she waved a hand first at him, then at herself, "this."

"It was no trouble, Sakura."

Something about the way he was looking at her sent a little frisson of nerves down her spine.

"Right, well, I appreciate it. Even though I want to stress that you _really_ didn't have to. And shouldn't again. Ever."

"I will keep that in mind," he agreed solemnly, but with a hint of something in his eyes, "and accept your appreciation, though I'm more accustomed to being thanked."

"Oh." She blinked in surprise, realizing that she'd never actually thanked him after how disagreeable she'd been the entire time.

"Thank you, Itachi."

"You're welcome," he said, and smiled his rare, sweet little half-smile. "I'll let Tsunade-sama know your mission report will be late."

And with absolutely no explanation for why he was willing to risk Tsunade-shishou's infamous wrath over truant mission reports just to give her a little more time, he was gone, leaving Sakura standing in bemusement on her welcome mat.

* * *

><p>It took Sakura about twenty minutes—the length of time necessary to brew herself a pot of tea and settle onto her old comfy couch with a plate of snacks—to decide that her feeling uncomfortable around Itachi had been a manifestation of her conscience objecting to how rude she was being.<p>

Sure, he hadn't needed to carry her like that and it had been really embarrassing, but he was just fulfilling his role as Captain by looking after his teammates, and that included temporary medics. She'd seen him waiting around the hospital with Shisui and Genma often enough to know that Uchiha Itachi protected his own.

Accordingly, the next day she tracked him down in ANBU HQ and thrust a carefully wrapped box into his hands before he could say anything.

"About yesterday—I just wanted to thank you again and apologize. Shizune-senpai's right about medics being the worst patients. I took my frustration out on you and that was completely unacceptable, I'm sorry."

"Sakura."

She hastily shut her mouth before she could continue babbling. Itachi was staring at her, dark eyes fixed on her face and not even looking at the present she'd pressed on him.

"This wasn't necessary, but thank you. I assure you, you don't need to thank me. I only wanted to see you safe."

Something about an earnest Uchiha Itachi made it hard to find words.

"Right," she agreed and nodded. "Ok, well, I just wanted to give you that in thanks. And apologize."

Itachi was still staring at her, almost as if he was waiting for something. Sakura made a colossal effort, but language failed her, so she fell back on the safety of social pleasantries.

"Then I'll see you around, Itachi."

She might not be the smoothest person ever around Itachi, but she could remember her manners, and that had to count for something. Satisfied with herself, Sakura considered the matter of showing proper gratitude closed.

* * *

><p>Three days later found Sakura wet and miserable after an ungodly long shift at the hospital. Recovering from chakra exhaustion meant two things: one, she was only allowed to supervise and consequently found herself doing a lot of awful mind-numbing paperwork; two, on coming outside to find it down pouring she couldn't take a quick-jutsu shortcut home and had to either wait or give up and walk home in the rain.<p>

Being tired and generally impatient, Sakura had taken option number two, visions of hot baths and hot tea and dryer-warmed towels floating through her head as she trudged home.

She had reached the point of fantasizing about hot baths _made_ of hot tea when a nearby black umbrella separated from the other umbrellas shuffling through Konoha's streets and walked over to her.

"Sakura," Itachi said from beneath the umbrella, "you're soaked, let me walk you home."

It would have been foolish to say no, and Sakura definitely knew better than to decline an offer of temporary shelter when it was willingly given.

"Thank you," she sighed once they'd reached her front door. "I'd invite you inside for some tea, but I need to change and get warmed up."

"Don't worry about it," he replied, "and you're welcome. I'm just happy to have been of service."

An hour, a bath, and two mugs of tea later Sakura smacked herself on the forehead in sudden realization. He'd done it _again_ and she hadn't even noticed!

He'd done her a favor so easily, as if he didn't have anything else to do or wasn't busy with his own things when he'd seen her. How many times had Uchiha Itachi gone out of his way to help her from the goodness of his heart without her noticing? And to think he'd been doing so without her even _thanking_ him!

Worse, she'd _complained_ to him and told him not to do it anymore. Granted, she'd only been talking about the embarrassing princess carry that time, but to be scolded after taking such good care of her must have been like a slap in the face after all the effort he'd gone through to help her without ever asking for anything in return.

Thank kami she didn't live with her parents anymore. If her mother found out about how disrespectful she'd been it wouldn't matter that Sakura was a jounin and an accomplished medic-nin, she'd be grounded faster than Naruto could say "ramen."

But the bright side to this stunning and mortifying new awareness was that now Sakura knew what was happening she could fix it. She would not be ungrateful towards Uchiha Itachi ever again.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Itachi said when she gave him a bigger box of dango, "but it was really no trouble at all."<p>

The next week he paid for her lunch at the okonomiyaki stall when she was short two hundred ryo, and Sakura bit her tongue until it bled to prevent herself from protesting that he could've just loaned her the extra ryo instead of purchasing her entire meal.

"Paying for your lunch isn't going to beggar me, Sakura," he said with amusement, fingering the small jar of homemade antiseptic cream. "I don't want you to go hungry when you always work so hard."

Five days later he did such a good job of sweet-talking the best but crankiest fruit vendor at the market that she not only replaced all the fruit that had been bruised when Sakura's paper bag broke apart, she also insisted on giving Sakura extras for the next month.

"I'm glad I could help you," he said as he tucked the free food vouchers to one of the Akimichi barbecue joints she'd wheedled from Ino into his pocket. "My mother's shopped with Kuze-san since I was a child, so she has a bit of a soft spot for me."

And so it went. Itachi opened doors for her, helped her carry books and scrolls home after she got a little too excited at the library, always let her have first dibs on the shower when she was medic on his team's ANBU missions, and otherwise proved himself to be a generous and incredibly thoughtful friend, all while accepting her clumsy thanks and small thank-you gifts with the graciousness and patience of a sage.

It was driving Sakura crazy.

He was so _nice_ to her and even though he said every time that she didn't need to do anything in return and that it wasn't an inconvenience to help her in fact he enjoyed it really, Sakura, her thanks was reward enough, somehow she just couldn't believe him.

_He_ might be happy with her paltry attempts at expressing gratitude, but she certainly wasn't. Itachi had been a good friend to her and she'd gone too long without recognizing his efforts, which was not something a real friend would ever do. Sakura was determined to right what she perceived to be an egregious wrong on her part in their relationship and prove herself worthy of Uchiha Itachi's friendship, once and for all.

* * *

><p>"Sasuke," she whined, sliding onto the empty stool next to him. "You've got to help me I'm running out of things to get for your brother."<p>

Her teammate paused mid-bite, letting the noodles slide back into the bowl before putting his chopsticks aside and turning to stare at her with one eyebrow raised.

"Why do you need to get Itachi anything, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded to Teuchi-san politely asking if she wanted her usual and slumped across the bar top with a deeply put-upon sigh.

"He just keeps _doing_ things for me and I don't know how to thank him."

Sasuke's other eyebrow arched up to join the first at his hairline. Next to him Naruto, who'd been mechanically slurping up noodles as he stared at her with wide eyes, choked and started coughing, pieces of noodles falling into his bowl with a messy splash. Without even looking Sasuke reached over and started pounding their blonde teammate on the back.

"Have you tried saying 'thank you?'"

Sakura gave him an unamused look.

"Yes, I've done _that_. But, Sasuke, I think he's been doing this for a really long time and I never noticed. And I just feel so bad about what an awful friend I've been."

Naruto shoulders were shaking, his face so far in his bowl his coughs had begun to sound more like watery snorts. Sasuke's response was to pound his back harder, and the bar top around Naruto was soon liberally sprinkled with broth. Concerned, Sakura sat up and tried to peer around Sasuke.

"Naruto, are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah, Sakura-chan," he coughed again and reached for a napkin to wipe his dripping, very red face. "Just choked on a noodle."

"I've told you before it's not healthy to eat your food that fast."

"Yeah," he said, nodding vigorously.

Something about the way he agreed with her so eagerly made Sakura suspicious, but in that moment Teuchi-san appeared with her ramen and she instantly forgot her teammate's shifty behavior.

"About the Teme's brother," Naruto spoke up as she was taking her first bite. "What's the big deal? I mean, if he wants to be nice to you or whatever just let him."

Sakura cut off Sasuke's softly muttered "Dobe—" when she whirled on her stool to glare at the blonde.

"That's awful, Naruto! Would you treat Lee or Kiba like that if they did something for you?"

Naruto's face turned bright red and he started stuttering.

"B-Bushy Brows and Dog Face- to me? They wouldn't."

"You're friends, aren't you? And would you treat a friend like that after they'd helped you out?"

Naruto was gaping at her, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find words when Sasuke drove a hard elbow into his side.

"_Dobe_, I think what Sakura is trying to ask is whether you'd let a _friend_ do you a favor without saying thank you."

"But your brother-"

"Is a _friend_," Sasuke stressed, elbowing Naruto again despite the blonde's attempts to dodge, "right?"

"Well, yeah," Sakura said, feeling that Sasuke's insistence somehow went beyond simply agreeing with her. "I've known him forever but we've really gotten close since I started going with his squad on missions."

"Hn," Sasuke said, and elbowed Naruto one more time, seemingly for good measure. "Just friends?"

Sakura frowned. "What's wrong with being friends?"

"Yeah, Teme," Naruto piped up, "nothing wrong with Sakura-chan being _friends_ with your brother."

There was some sort of subtext going on here with all of the sudden emphasis on _friendship_, but Sakura couldn't figure out what it was for the life of her. Instead she cleared her throat and tried to get the conversation back to her original point.

"So anyway, what should I do? About getting stuff for Itachi, I mean."

"Have you considered," Sasuke said slowly, "that he might just want to do things for you?"

"No, I know _that_." She sighed and gave him a serious look, not sure he understood her dilemma. "That's exactly why I'm doing this, Sasuke, to make up for all the times he was a good friend to me and I didn't notice."

Her teammate had a very funny look on his face, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her. It was almost as if he was confused, but there was nothing about the situation that Sakura thought was particularly confusing, so that couldn't be right.

"Gratitude," he said after a long pause, "isn't a competition, Sakura."

"It's not a competition! I'm just trying to return the favor. But there's only so much I can do when your brother just seems to be everywhere. I don't know how he does it it's like he's got some sort of sense for when I'm minorly inconvenienced or something. And with him always helping me like that I don't know how to show how much I appreciate what he does for me.

"Simply saying 'thank you' just doesn't seem like enough!"

Sasuke looked pained, his eyes wide with disbelief. Beside him Naruto had his face in his bowl again, apparently so enthusiastic about the ramen broth that he was trying to drink it like a dog. His shoulders were shaking with his efforts and he was making gross wet sputtering noises.

"Poor aniki," Sasuke mumbled softly and turned back to his no doubt cold noodles.

Utterly mystified by her teammates' bizarre behavior in reaction to her outburst, Sakura could only blink at them, not at all sure why Sasuke thought that Itachi was "poor."

"What?" She asked, but Sasuke refused to answer and only continued eating.

"I think," Sasuke finally said once he'd finished his noodles, "that what you've been doing is fine. You know him well enough by now to have an idea of his tastes."

Without another word he dropped the correct change on the bar, physically lifted Naruto by his jumpsuit collar out of his ramen bowl, and dragged the still-dripping blonde from the booth, leaving Sakura to stare after them feeling as if she'd missed something important, but with no idea as to what it was.

* * *

><p>"Shannaro!"<p>

Sakura's punch went straight through the solid concrete wall surrounding the compound, ripples of force and debris flying in her wake. She fought off a fresh wave of attackers as she pressed a finger to the comm set in her ear.

"I'm through, does everyone copy?"

There were two muffled replies and one grunt over the line as everyone confirmed receiving her message. Sakura was a little concerned because the grunt had _sounded_ like Itachi and it was unusual for him to make noise, even in the heat of battle, but in the next moment Shisui appeared beside her to provide back-up.

Genma was close behind, Itachi bringing up the rear and covering their retreat with a steady stream of fire. The instant he reached her Sakura darted around him and struck the ground with a chakra-enhanced fist, the superheated air produced by the Katon dispersed further outwards by the ground she'd churned up.

Sakura's first instinct was to stop as soon as possible to get a look at everyone's injuries, but Itachi shot her a look she could read through his mask and they kept going, Sakura gritting her teeth against the medic's intuition telling her that something was wrong and to fix it immediately.

Ironically despite Itachi's insistence on getting away as quickly as possible to avoid pursuit, he was the one to drop first, saved from falling out of the trees by his fleet-footed cousin.

"That's it," Sakura said, already removing her vision-restrictive mask. "I want a roll call of everyone's injuries, now."

"I'm fine," Itachi said, but didn't stop her from cutting through the side of his ANBU flak vest and the shirt underneath so she could pull aside the bloodstained fabric to see his wound.

"Standard-length katana," he reported as she probed the injury with her chakra, "went in clean and missed all vital organs. I flooded the area with chakra as the blade was being removed and started the healing process."

"Damn it, Taichou," Sakura sighed, "what have I told you about checking for infection first? Just because the sword went in cleanly doesn't mean _it_ was clean."

Itachi was silent as she examined the entry and exit sites, carefully touching the fresh pink skin around the edges of the cuts, evidence of larger original wounds. She was always a little jealous of his chakra coils in moments like these, knowing she'd never have been able to repair so much damage if she'd burned as much chakra as he had.

But he paid for it in other ways, lacking the finite control over his chakra and med-nin techniques necessary to weed out infection or repair delicate structures in the heat of battle. And his flash-healing, though useful, took its toll in a massive chakra expenditure that was a major risk when missions went awry.

Sakura finished checking over his work, repaired the damage most in need of treatment, and accepted the bandages Genma had retrieved from her med-kit without her asking, giving him a pointed look as she did so.

"I'm alright," he said, holding up his palms in surrender. "Nothing serious, just a little cut up. One of those guys was a Wind-user. Lots of tiny stinging cuts but nothing too deep."

Without needing to be told he was already reaching for another roll of bandages for the little weeping cuts dotting his arms and legs. Sakura turned on Shisui next with a raised eyebrow.

"Miscellaneous cuts and bruises," he told her cheerfully, "surface damage mostly. I have a nice slice on my left side, but it's shallow, nothing like Itachi-chan."

"I'll be the judge of that." Sakura gestured him over, done bandaging Itachi's injuries.

After healing him she gave her team a careful once-over. Itachi was very pale and visibly struggling to stand upright, obviously feeling the effects of using up so much chakra in such a short amount of time. Shisui was haggard and jittery, shifting restlessly from foot to foot as she assessed him. Genma, by virtue of not having the complexion of a porcelain doll, seemed a little better, but even he had a glassy sheen to his eyes that spoke of fatigue.

Sakura herself was operating at just over one-third of her chakra capacity, her job as decoy and keeping their escape route clear having only put her in contact with the weaker fighters. On good missions it was fifty/fifty whether the strongest enemies went for the bright pink kunoichi causing lots of property damage, or remembered they were supposed to be guards and stuck to their posts. Of course on bad missions _all_ the enemies were strong, but they'd been lucky this time. Three team members low on chakra but with only minimal injuries was a testament to the squad's speed and skill in completing their mission objective.

"You're not traveling like that, Taichou," she said flatly as she gauged who in the squad could best carry him.

She was about to delegate the task to Genma when the obvious solution occurred to her and with it a sudden revelation. Hadn't Itachi carrying her after that one mission been what made her realize the disparity in their relationship and how remiss she'd been as a friend? And now their situation was completely reversed, meaning she could pay back the original favor exactly as he'd helped her.

"Ok, Taichou," she said with a smile that was a little too excited given the current circumstances, "you're with me."

Itachi's face was slack with a combination of his exhaustion and his usual lack of emotion, but Shisui and Genma both stared at her in shock.

"Sakura," Shisui started, eyes darting to his cousin, "don't you think maybe one of us might be a better option?"

"Are you suggesting I'm not _strong_ enough?" She returned with a raised eyebrow. Shisui blanched, if possible, paler than he'd already been.

"Pretty sure strength isn't the issue here." Genma stepped in, rubbing the back of his neck as he attempted to rescue his teammate. "Should the most capable member of the squad and our medic be taking on this burden?"

He gave a belated grin in Itachi's direction. "No offense, Taichou."

"None taken," Itachi said as he braced himself upright against a tree. "But I agree with Genma's assessment. If pursuit catches up to us you will need to be able to fight."

"Shisui's still got a few shunshin left in him," Sakura said easily, "he can take you from me and get the two of you away, but I can't let him carry you on his own when it looks like a strong breeze could knock him on his ass at any moment."

She ignored Shisui's dryly-muttered "thanks," turning her attention to the only other option.

"Genma doesn't look much better and arguably with his reflexes slowed as they are he doesn't need anything else impeding his reaction time, which makes me the best option. And," she continued, "since I have the strength to do so there's no reason you should be subjected to an uncomfortable carrying position where you're largely outside my sight and from which I can't monitor your health."

Her smile was very wide, knowing she'd proved her point beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"That's exactly what you told me last time, Taichou."

Instead of fighting her further, Itachi only nodded and took a few wobbling steps towards her. Sakura was quick to rush forward, unwilling for him to avoid a near miss with Shisui only to fall on her watch. He was patient and didn't complain as she lifted him into her arms, shifting the position of her hands to better settle his weight and make sure he was secure in her arms for traveling.

"I'm ready. Let's go."

Unfortunately, her teammates didn't seem inclined to move any time soon. Genma was alternatively rubbing his eyes with his hands and then staring down at his open palms with a deeply stunned expression. Shisui was snorting loudly into his fist, tears starting to leak from his eyes as his laughter grew too hard to stifle.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Genma muttered, eyes wide.

"C-cute!" Shisui gasped, "That's too cute, Itachi-chan, wait until Mikoto-oba-san hears about this."

"Some highly capable, professional ANBU squad _you_ are," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I don't see what the big deal is. I've carried Kakashi-sensei like this before when he's exhausted his chakra and passed out. Considering the potential damage to his Sharingan eye I need him in a position where I can monitor it more easily."

"Yeah, well," Genma spoke as Shisui laughed hysterically into his shoulder, "seeing Taichou like that with you of all people—" his words cut off abruptly and he went pale, digging an elbow into Shisui's side until the other Uchiha stopped laughing long enough to look up before he too went white.

Sakura's brow furrowed in confusion. "What about me?"

"Yes," Itachi said, voice icy, "is there something you'd like to say?"

He was facing away from her as he spoke and Sakura couldn't see anything but the back of his head. She had no idea what kind of face he was making or why he was suddenly so angry, but it seemed to have the desire effect on their teammates as both sobered immediately.

"I suggest," Itachi said mildly after another minute of staring at them, "that we move out."

"Yes, Taichou," they replied, snapping their masks into place and hopping into the trees.

"Do I get to know what that was about?" She asked as the forests of Fire Country flew by around them.

"It was wrong of them to laugh at you. Doing so belittles your effort as team medic."

This seemed like an unnecessarily harsh response to what Sakura thought was genuine amusement over the mismatch of her carrying someone taller and heavier than herself, but she couldn't help being a little touched that he'd taken the squad to task over a perceived slight to her honor.

"But don't you think it's a little funny?" She glanced at the man in her arms and the way his legs dangled so far out, his head actually higher than hers from how her arm was propping him upright. "I mean, everyone thinks it's strange I'm so much stronger than I appear. This probably looks pretty ridiculous to them."

"I don't," Itachi said quietly, face hidden from her as he stared straight ahead. "I think your strength is remarkable. You've worked hard for this skill and it shouldn't be mocked."

Sakura couldn't reply around the lump that had formed in her throat. Itachi wasn't a particularly verbose person in the first place and his compliments were sparingly given. She'd never understood the way Sasuke practically hung on his aniki's every word said until she'd started working on Itachi's ANBU team and learned exactly what effect one well-placed word of praise could have.

"Well," she said some minutes later once she felt again capable of speaking, "with this we're definitely even. I think I've returned the favor now."

"Hn."

A large portion of the journey passed in comfortable silence and Sakura thought they wouldn't speak again until they'd reached the village, whereupon she was determined to transport her Captain straight to the hospital just as he'd delivered her. So she was honestly a little startled when Itachi spoke up, sounding remarkably hesitant.

"If you feel that we're even and that you no longer need to repay me in thanks for the things I was happy—and will continue to be happy—to do for you as someone who cares about you," he paused and turned to stare at her, dark eyes intent on her face, "can I ask if you're free next Friday night?"

"What?"

"Next Friday night," he repeated as his eyes searched hers, "are you free? Would you be interested in eating with me on a," he smiled then, small and hopeful, "date?"

* * *

><p>It took the rest of the way back to Konoha for him to convince her that he <em>really<em> wasn't angry with her for dropping him and that, yes, the date was still genuinely and enthusiastically offered.

* * *

><p>For their first date they used the free food vouchers for the Akimichi barbecue joint, saving debates on who would pay or whether they should split the cost for a future occasion.<p>

* * *

><p>AN: In reality despite excuses about "wanting the patient somewhere their condition can be visibly monitored," a fireman's lift is a much better way to carry someone who's physically larger than you are, and a pack-strap carry is not the same as a simple piggyback. But I would be the first person to admit to excessively abusing romance novel tropes. Forgive me, I wanted to write a situation where Sakura carries Itachi like a princess, and Itachi ("SweeTachi") really doesn't mind at all.

EDIT 12/6/14: So my beloved best friend/enabler/partner-in-crime Re-Ane drew me Princess Carry Itachi fanart which I've now made the cover image for this story! The tiny thumbnail really doesn't do her hard work justice so please visit my profile for a link to the full image!


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